Continental Divide Trail 

Sep 10, 2017.  Green River Pass, WY

• Stopped at 1869.5: 13.5 miles; 71 to go.

• Rained a few hours last night, but slowly cleared today, with cumulus everywhere.  Beautiful walk, very little up-and-down, many lakes and streams.  Saw maybe 3 people.  

• Camping with fantastic view of mountains north of me.  Still, only 13.5 miles?  Obviously my pace has slowed.  But no shoulder aches, no wobbly walking towards end of day.  M&Ms and almonds for snacks, ramen for dinner.

Sep 12, 2017.  Green River Lakes, WY

• Last night camped closer than 100 feet to lake: bad boy!  Frost on backpack & tent pretty wet in morning.  Roared along on easy downhill/flat trail after a pass.  Took wrong turn and blew about an hour.  Met SOBO hiker Bravo who scared me twice:

Lava Lodge may be closed for season (it’s where I sent my food pkg)

Storm coming in 2-3 days.

Stopped at 1902.6 -> 16.2 miles, 38 to go.

Sep 13, 2017.  Bridger-Teton National Forest

• Stopped at 1917 -> 15 miles, 18 to go.

• Rain at night, but not much.  Then at 5 PM, the heavens opened: like buckets of hail hurled at me.  Put up tent in record time.

Sep 15, 2017.  Lava Mountain Lodge, WY

• Oboy, what a night it was!  Gentle rain began after dinner - I was all tucked in and cozy.  Around 3 AM I felt raindrops - how can that be?  Turns out the ground became so wet that both tent pegs pulled out and the tent had collapsed on me.  Had to run outside and retake it in the rain.  The foot of the sleeping bag got pretty wet, but inside it was still ok.

• Only 4 miles or so to the Lava Mt Lodge turnoff.  A forestry service guy rode me to the lodge.  Had coffee, a muffin, an egg & cheese burrito, and checked into a 4 bed cabin all to myself ($40), washed my clothes, took a shower, picked up my food package.  Jill and Lat had sent me my terrorist cap that I had left at their house: perfect!

• No phone service, but serviceable wifi, so I emailed a bunch of people, and spoke to Caren (she had just flown to Miami: on to Grenada and Serenity tomorrow), Irv (as usual, amazed), left msg to Nasser Zaghi.  Will try him again tomorrow.  Need to make sure he’s ok with me staying at  his room: $1250/month.

• Pigged out at dinner: pulled pork sandwich with fries and baked beans, then a whole pizza.  Maybe overdid it a bit, but it sure tasted good.  Also symbolic Moscow Mule - they even had a proper metal mug.

Sep 17, 2017.  Near South Entrance, Yellowstone

• Two guys were ready to drive me to the trailhead - I think I double booked last night.  Anyway, easy 6 mile return, and onto the CDT.  Within 10 minutes I saw the first bear of the entire CDT, in a meadow.  Yelled at him until he stood up, noticed me, and fled.  Grizzly!

• Trail was tough to follow, and if it snowed (as was forecast) in a day or two, I would be in trouble.  So I returned to the highway and started following it until a nice young lady, Lynn Haerr, pulled over and recommended she drive me around 10 miles to the Hatchet resort for a beer or two.  Good idea!  We ended up polishing off a six pack sitting in a teepee, and I heard her life story..  Then she drove me a little further, to the Yellowstone South Entrance road, where I will have a 28 mile walk to the entrance.  Weather lovely, Tetons looking great in the west, a perfect setup.  I hiked on the road another hour or two, then sneaked off to pitch my tent for the night, where I now am.  Even if the weather turns foul, I have a road to follow, and then the Yellowstone trail system.  Life is good,

• If/when I return to the CDT next year, I should look Lynn up: possible ride to/from the Bozeman airport, cabin to stay in, ride to Yellowstone, etc.

• One downer: misplaced my bear spray today: maybe in her truck.  Sure hope I don’t need it.

• While walking the road:

  • An old guy drove by, reversed direction and asked if he could drive me somewhere.  Then he asked if I needed any food.  Finally he forced some lifesavers on me.

  • Two thru hikers stopped their car and asked if I needed anything.  

  • Tyler (I had met him before at the Lava Mt. Lodge) pulled over and said he recognized my pink rain jacket.  Asked if I needed anything.  Was very excited about seeing me, and my doing the CDT.  Gave me two bottles of water.